Blog ≫ 2004 ≫ Earls Avenue

Have seen BILLIONS of places down in Folkestone so far this week, the star of which has been a mad 3 bed flat over two levels 1 which has it's own bar, roof terrace, separate dining room, lounge, TV room AND study, but the thing that's been stopping me is the price - 180k. That's too rich for me, and for the area, I would be putting all my eggs in the one basket, gambling everything I could afford on that flat. I'm sure the price wouldn't fall, but this one's been on the market for over 6 months with no offers made on it, possibly because it's just too cool... it's not suitable for old people (which Folkestone has an abundance of) or a family with small children because of all the stairs and no lifts, and it's not suitable for poor people, because it is really getting on for London prices... so I'm not happy about the gamble.

Luckily today we've seen a stunner on Earl's Avenue, which is smaller (only two beds) but still big enough (lounge and master bedroom are both 17' x 15', big enough for the pool table), and finished to a very high spec, solid wood floors 2 and all double glazed already, a very solid investment I feel 3, and at a significantly lower price... The location is slightly less posh, but still very good, in the West End, and about half way between Folkestone Central and Folkestone West, so better placed for whichever station becomes The Daddy when the High Speed Rail Link is in place... We timed the walk as being less than ten minutes, which will be important for commuting, we're hearing now that West is going to be the one, which makes sense as there is a lot more space around it to make a new super terminus.

The only things that're not ideal is that the living space is not very flexible, they're big solid rooms, so one room will be spare room and study combined, or something, there's no dividing it up really. Very high ceilings, lots of light and pleasant views to all aspects, and no evidence of spiders, which was a priority. It does have a couple of big walk in wardrobes, which while not as good as a third bedroom, they have potential to be a shower room and an indoor shed for me 4!

Also happy to discover that I could get a brand new coin-slotted pub pool table for a grand, about half what I was expecting 5...

Ah, what if Folkestone Harbour or the elusive Folkestone East are the stations to be redeveloped..?

  1. This is the one we called "Number 6" or "6c" or something like that, though which actual road was that number six of? It's sort of on Sandgate Road. It was very cool, but it had a short lease. Wasn't the most practical place but was impressive. Clare's bro also went to look at it with a view to buying, but £180k was a lot of money. The Earls Avenue flat we did buy was less than £120k I think.
  2. Not solid wood, laminate. And we had to cover that over with carpet.
  3. Was fairly solid, we bought at a peakish time and still went up very slightly.
  4. This must have been the big old walk in cupboard right in the hallway. It wasn't very much like a shed but it was big, we put a tumble dryer in there and hung our coats and stuff like that. My neighbour who lived in the same block had a GUN CABINET in their one.
  5. And in the end Kevin bought us one as a wedding present!

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Paul Clarkeʼs blog - I live in Hythe in the deep South. Married + dad to two, I'm a full stack web developr, + I do js / Node, some ruby, python, php etc. I like pubs, running, eating, home automation + other diy jiggery-pokery, history, genealogy, Television, squirrels, pirates, lego, and TIME TRAVEL.